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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29675736">The Noon Train to Glass City</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griselda_Gimpel/pseuds/Griselda_Gimpel'>Griselda_Gimpel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, Heist, Religious Fanaticism, Terrorism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:27:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,510</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29675736</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griselda_Gimpel/pseuds/Griselda_Gimpel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the year 2120, Nile and Booker have to stop a terrorist plot.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Black Is Beautiful 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Noon Train to Glass City</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/CypressSunn/gifts">CypressSunn</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>                The target had boarded the noon train to Glass City in Philadelphia. Nile and Booker had gotten on at the Pittsburgh stop. Doing that – and doing that without tickets – had been a tricky matter, but the perk of being basically immortal was that jumping over a three-foot gap when the drop between was five hundred feet straight down didn’t pose the same danger, although Nile’s stomach still lurched as they leapt from the platform railing and grasped the ladder on the side of the car. From there, they scrambled up on top of the train car. Once out of sight of any watching security, they had to lay flat on the top of the train until it had left the station. After they were clear and the train started to pick up speed, Booker held Nile’s legs so she could jimmy open the sliding door of the car. Once that was accomplished, they were able to swing down into the car and get out of the wind.</p><p>                Tickets would have been easier, but it had been three years since they’d been able to buy tickets. A woman named Abbey had taken over Copley’s role after he’d retired, but Abbey had since passed away, and the team hadn’t been able to find a replacement. This had made things more difficult. It being the year 2120, practically everything required handchip identification in the United States, and they couldn’t have those. Being tracked in such a manner would make it too obvious that they weren’t aging like regular people.  </p><p>                Nile glanced down as the outskirts of Pittsburgh passed by them five hundred feet below. A blur of metallic briefly obscured her view as the train passed through the next magnethoop. Neither Nile nor Booker understood how the mangethoops kept the train in the sky, but, Nile mused, she also didn’t know much about how airplanes flew or how phones worked, either. With both, they simply accepted that the technology worked the way the smart people had designed them to work.</p><p>                The handchips were why the terrorist that wanted to blow up Glass City wasn’t aboard the train himself. Practically everyone but the Amish had handchips these days, including the radio blowhards who pontificated that the handchips were the Mark of the Beast from the Revelation of Saint John. For that matter, most of their listeners, who’d nod along in agreement, had handships themselves. But there were always a handful of kooks who’d refused the chips and lived off the grid. They considered Glass City – the highest tech city in the United States – and abomination. One such kook had actually believed what the demagogue on the radio claimed enough to act on it. He’d swapped the sapphire brooch belonging to one Mrs. Lina Ingles, who was the sister of Cathy Ingles, who in turn was Mayor of Glass City. What Mrs. Ingles now wore on the front of her blouse as she traveled to visit her sister was a cleverly designed bomb set to detonate as the train pulled into the station in Glass City.</p><p>                Nile and Booker’s mission was the steal the brooch and disable it. If they were successful, there’d be no explosion, and Glass City wouldn’t shatter on the corn fields beneath it. Thankfully, they had time. Glass City was out past Kansas City, floating in the sky like a diamond. It stayed up with the same magnet technology that kept the trains afloat. Nile had never been there before, but she’d read up on it in preparation for the mission. The walls of Glass City were opaque, but the ceilings and floors were transparent glass. This allowed the sunlight from above to filter down to the corn fields below. The regularly scheduled rains provided Glass City with its water, and its treated waste was then used for crop irrigation.</p><p>                Nile glanced at her watch. They couldn’t move yet. The Ticketmaster would be traversing the passenger cars, scanning everyone’s handchips to make sure they had purchased a digital ticket. As Nile and Booker didn’t have tickets, they would need to wait as stowaways in the freight car until they were in the clear. Then they would move toward their target.</p><p>                While they waited, they dangled their legs out of the car, feeling the air rush past. The scene bolted past below them at five hundred miles per hour. Another magnethoop went by, and then their view of the scenery returned.</p><p>                “People can’t build something beautiful without someone else wanting to blow it up, huh?” Booker remarked. It was an old conversation between them, and Nile only smiled in response.</p><p>                “But people did build something beautiful. It’s just our job to protect it.” She waved a hand to encompass the nation passing below beneath her. “God, I could have never envisioned all this a hundred years ago.”</p><p>                Now it was Booker’s turn to glance at his watch. “Not yet,” he muttered. Nile watched him. He’d been jumpy all day. She thought she had a good idea why.</p><p>                “It’s a hundred years today, isn’t it?” she asked softly.</p><p>                “Yeah,” he said. “Damn, I wish I had a drink.”</p><p>                “Uh uh. Nobody drinks on a mission this high up,” Nile said. She studied him as they waited for the minutes to tick by. Of all the members of the team, she was the one who got on with Booker the best. They were usually paired for missions, and Nile found she rather enjoyed his company, especially since he’d sobered up. She pushed her tongue up against the inside of her upper lip. Surely, a hundred years constituted taking it slow enough.</p><p>                “You ready?” Booker asked when it was time to move. He brushed a speck of dirt off of his suit jacket. For the mission, they were both wearing formal attire. Booker’s suit was black, while Nile had on charcoal gray one. They both carried toolkits behind them on their belts, but the suit jackets obscured them from view.</p><p>                “Looking forward to it,” Nile teased. She saw Booker start a bit at that, but he didn’t say anything in return. He simply stood up, waited for Nile to be clear of the door, and then closed it. That left them in darkness, and they found their way by feel to the front of the car. Once there, they opened up the door and stepped out onto the path connecting the car they were in to the one in front of it. It was fully enclosed for safety reasons, of course.</p><p>                They had to cross three more cars until they were in the passenger section, and then it was five cars after that until they were in the same one as Mrs. Ingles. Right before they entered it, they put their plan into action. Booker slipped his arm around Nile’s waist, and Nile leaned into his chest. They stumbled forward as if they were a bit drunk on alcohol or love or both. A few feet from Mrs. Ingles, Nile tilted her head back, and Booker kissed her. It was a long, proper kiss, with tongue, and they continued kissing as they moved closer to Mrs. Ingles. Once they were right next to her, Nile leaned into Booker just a little hard, and Booker pretended to stumble to the side, bumping into Mrs. Ingles. She was jostled in her booth. Nile, doing her best to radiate contriteness, put her hands on Mrs. Ingles’ blouse, helping to right her. In the process, she deftly palmed the brooch while Booker made the appropriate apologies. Then they turned and beat a hasty – and apparently embarrassed – retreat while Mrs. Ingles glared indignity at their backs.</p><p>                Once back in the freight section, they set to work dismantling the bomb. Booker held the light while Nile worked with the slender tools. She’d learned many skills since discovering she was more-or-less immortal.</p><p>                “You’re…uh…a good kisser,” Booker stammered. The light wavered as his hand jerked with his words.</p><p>                “It was my pleasure,” Nile told him, flashing him a grin before returning to the delicate work of dismantling the bomb.</p><p>                “Thanks,” Booker said. He looked like he was going to say more but then stopped. Nile sighed internally and then decided to stop beating around the bush.</p><p>                “You know how you’re jealous of what Nicky and Joe have?” she asked.</p><p>                “What? Uh, yeah.”</p><p>                “You want to stop being jealous?”</p><p>                “Nile, are you suggesting-”</p><p>                “Yes, Booker, I am. Once we get this bomb defused, I want you to kiss me good and hard and not stop until we have to bail in Glass City. Then I want to go on a date and see the light fountain in the city square.”</p><p>                “Nile, I don’t know what to say.”</p><p>                “Ah ha! That’s that taken care of,” Nile said, discarding the now inert explosive device. Turning, she caught Booker’s lapels and pulled her closer to her. “Well, lucky for you, you don’t have to say anything at all.” She grinned teasingly, and Booker smiled back at her and then closed the distance between their lips.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's a jewelry heist...on a train...in the sky! God, this was so much fun to write.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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